Numbering 44 million, Latinos are not only this nation’s largest and fastest-growing ethnic group, they are also big business. Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream is a fresh, provocative film examining how media and marketers are shaping America’s perceptions of Latinos. The striking new documentary from filmmaker Phillip Rodriquez features the extraordinary insight and observations of Latino icon and advocate George Lopez through rare behind-the-scenes access to the actor/comedian’s remarkable life and career.

Americans are in a collective state of confusion about Latinos. In Brown is the New Green, Rodriguez argues that Latino image is stage-managed by marketers and media companies. Mainstream media have largely ignored them, while Spanish-language networks and Hispanic ad companies have served up an exoticized image that has no basis in contemporary American reality.

The film explores how George Lopez normalizes the image of Latinos in this country through entertainment, as Bill Cosby did for African Americans decades ago. Lopez, whose ABC sitcom is the longest-running show with a Latino lead in the history of television, strives to represent Latinos in a manner true to their realities and aspirations.

In Brown is the New Green, we see actor/comedian George Lopez walk a tightrope between ethnic authenticity and primetime appeal. From his TV sitcom to sold-out concerts, from the writer room, to film sets, Lopez delicately maneuvers to maintain a suitable persona and Latino sensibility. And in behind-the-scenes conversations, he speaks candidly of his childhood longing to fit in, as well as the costs and rewards of working “within the system.”

While Lopez advocates Latinos’ move into the media mainstream, Hispanic marketers have a different agenda; to present Latinos as a separate America. Whether their target audience is elderly immigrants or predominantly English-speaking youth, these Hispanic marketers are pursuing Latino dollars via the myth of cultural Otherness. Brown is the New Green reveals clips of their programming – from “folkloric” commercials to cheesy Latin American soap operas to butt-shakin’ bicultural videos.

Brown is the New Green features interviews with a variety of influential Latinos, who weigh in, often with conflicting opinions, on the role of marketing and media in shaping Latino identity. Interviewees include Advertising Executive Hector Orcí, actor Bill Dana (“Jose Jimenez”), author Arlene Dávila, media activist Alex Nogales, and the George Lopez show producer Bruce Helford (who also produced Roseanne and The Drew Carey Show).

The film also features conversations with members of the Latino youth market, whose tastes and interests are far more eclectic than one might think.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS+

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Phillip Rodriguez
Producer

Phillip Rodriguez is the founder of City Projects, an organization dedicated to creating sustainable programs that will both educate and entertain today’s broad and diverse audiences. Rodriguez is also a Senior Fellow for Documentary Filmmaking at the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

Rodriguez recently completed Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream, a one-hour documentary for PBS on Hispanic marketing and media featuring comedian George Lopez.

Rodriguez’ PBS documentary, Los Angeles Now (2004), investigates the “browning” of America’s second-largest city. Newsday said that the film, “reveals L.A. for what it really is: the most multicultural city in the world and, possibly, a blueprint for the future of the United States.” The film has been honored by New York Anthology Film Archives, Boston Fine Arts Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, INPUT 2005, Harvard Film Archives, MOCA Los Angeles and others.

Rodriguez’ other works include the critically acclaimed Mixed Feelings: San Diego/Tijuana (2002). This film uses the urban landscapes of neighboring cities to comment on contrasting conditions and attitudes in the U.S. and Mexico. The New York Times praised the film’s “snappy digital imagery”; The Los Angeles Times called it “transnational fun, with a point.”

Rodriguez’ film work include Manuel Ocampo: God is My Copilot, a reconsideration of multiculturalism in the contemporary art world. The film, which features Dennis Hopper, Julian Schnabel, and other notable art world figures, was celebrated at film festivals worldwide including the Los Angeles AFI International Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Biennale Internationale du film sur l’art at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Havana Film Festival. The Chicago Reader said the film “belongs with the best of the genre.

Pancho Villa & Other Stories won an award for best documentary at the 2000 San Antonio Cinefestival and has been honored at the Smithsonian National Gallery, The New York Latino Film and Video Festival, Chicago Latino Film Festival, Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival, San Francisco Cine Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, and the XV Festival de Cine Latino Americano, Trieste, Italy.

Rodriguez’ production company, City Projects, also conducted My City Now, an interactive media literacy program for high school students in U.S. cities impacted by high rates of immigration.

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Rodriguez has an M.A. in Latin American Studies (Honors) and an M.F.A. in Film and Television from UCLA. He also studied Art History and Spanish Literature at Universidad Cumplutense de Madrid. He is a former Senior Research Fellow for The Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Rodriguez received the first annual USA Broad Fellow Award. This annual award, made by United States Artists (USA), honors the country’s finest living artists.

DVD copies for this program are currently available.
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About Us

Latino Public Broadcasting is the leader of the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural media that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans. These programs are produced for dissemination to the public broadcasting stations and other public telecommunication entities. LPB provides a voice to the diverse Latino community on public media throughout the United States.